Sanhedrin Nursery – Garden Blog

• There’s still time to plant summer vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, cucumbers and corn will bear for you if you plant them now.

• Attract birds to your garden with a concrete bird bath. They come in many attractive styles and make good gifts.

• Attract hummingbirds to your patio this summer with hummingbird feeders, so you can enjoy their iridescent beauty and charm. The new Big Gulp™ holds 40 oz. and is easy to fill.

• New Guinea impatiens have variegated foliage and giant, impatiens flowers. These striking plants will take more sun than regular impatiens and will bloom all summer.

• Check roses for black spots on the leaves and treat immediately to prevent defoliation.

Father’s Day in the Garden

My father loved dahlias. He had a flower border that surrounded the little lawn in our backyard and in it he grew gorgeous dahlias and tall, colorful gladioli. There was also a big, beautiful apricot tree and a large bed of strawberries. He would deliver a big bowl of bright red strawberries to the kitchen with pride and anticipation for the strawberry shortcake that would appear after dinner. How we enjoyed the fresh fruit from his garden. He loved gardening and I loved being with him in the garden. I think the garden was his escape from the stresses of life.

Lots of dads enjoy gardening. Tomatoes and peppers are favorites with many of them. And dads like fruit trees. It gives them lots to master with the pruning and thinning and then the harvesting in the fall. There always seems to be room for one more fruit tree.

Grape and berry vines are easy to grow and so much fun to harvest. With just a few grapevines you can harvest enough fruit for delicious fresh grapes, grape juice, grape jelly or raisins. Plant early, mid-season and late varieties for an extended harvest. The sweet, ripe berries are loved by everyone.

Raspberries and blackberries are easy to grow in our climate. Raspberries come in a variety of colors: red, purple, black and yellow. From the classic dark red berries with rich raspberry flavor to the extra large Bababerries and the yellow Fall Gold, there is a wide variety of colors and flavors. With a little planning, you can have fresh raspberries from spring through fall. There is very little maintenance and you are rewarded with succulent berries year after year.

Blackberries are known by many names: boysenberry, nectarberry, loganberry or olallie berry to name a few. The berries range in color from jet black to red, from sweet to tart, and all have distinctive flavors.

Olallie berries are large, firm black berries 1.5 inches long. They are sweeter than others with some wild blackberry flavor. Marionberries have sweet, bright, shiny black berries with a faint wild blackberry flavor. They are excellent for fresh eating and desserts.

Loganberries are thought to be a wild cross between a blackberry and a red raspberry. Their large, light red berries do not darken when ripe. The unique, tart flavor is highly prized and loganberry wine and pies are enjoyed by many people. ‘Triple Crown’ blackberry is named for its three crowning attributes—flavor, productivity and vigor. In addition, it is thornless and produces very large berries.

Boysenberries, also called nectarberries, are extremely large, dark maroon berries up to two and a half inches long. They are soft and very juicy with a rich, tangy flavor. They come either thorny or thornless.

Gooseberries and currants almost never show up in the grocery store, so if you like a tasty gooseberry pie now and then, you better plant your own. They are very flavorful and can be eaten fresh or made into pies and jams.

Blueberries grow on bushes that produce bountiful crops in just a few years. There are many varieties and they ripen over a long season. The soil needs to be acidic and kept moist but with a little effort, you can harvest delicious blueberries all summer long.

Celebrate Dad this weekend with fruits and flowers and a day in the garden.

• Bare root fruit trees, grape and berry vines, and ornamental trees and shrubs are still available and ready to plant.

• Roses should be pruned if you haven’t done so already. Remove all old leaves on and around the bushes and spray with Neem oil to prevent early pest and disease problems.

• Plant peas in well-drained soil for a spring crop. Protect from birds with bird netting or lightweight row cover.

• Spring vegetables can be planted now from nursery starts. Begin your garden with broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, spinach, chard and onions. It pays to grow your own!

• Deciduous Clematis vines can be cut back to about waist height, to encourage bushiness, more flowers and a nicer looking vine. Do this now before the new growth starts.

The Raspberry Patch

The delicate unique flavor of raspberries make them a favorite with fruit lovers. Growing a raspberry patch in your yard is easy. There is very little maintenance and you are rewarded with succulent berries year after year. By planting different varieties that bear at different times, you can have a steady supply of fresh raspberries all summer long.

Raspberries can be divided into two groups based on the season in which they produce fruit. Everbearing varieties produce fruit in the summer as well as the fall, while summer-bearing varieties only produce fruit in the summer. Raspberry plants can also be divided into categories by color: red, yellow, purple and black.

Summer-bearing red raspberries include Willamette, which is the earliest to bear with dark red fruit and a rich and slightly tart flavor. Canby also bears in the summer with light red fruit that are medium to large, firm, sweet and excellent for fresh use and processing.

Everbearing raspberries include Amity, Heritage and Bababerry. Amity has large, firm, dark red berries with classic raspberry flavor and superior quality, and almost no spines. Heritage is the traditional standard for fall fruiting raspberries. It has large, sweet, dark red berries with a mild flavor. These berries are superb for freezing and delicious for table use. Bababerry has large, soft red berries up to 1-inch, and is highly regarded for flavor. It is an excellent producer, and tolerates summer heat better than other raspberries.

Yellow raspberries are less common than the other two types but produce berries that are just as sweet and large. Most yellow raspberries are fall-ripening including Fall Gold, which ripens 10 days before the Heritage fall crop. Its fruit is medium-sized, yellow with a pink blush, soft, but with extremely sweet golden berries that are excellent for eating fresh or processing.

Purple raspberries are cultivars with both red and black raspberries in their genetics which produce uniquely flavored fruit. They are extremely vigorous and often show added disease and insect resistance. As the fruit ripens it changes color from red to purple. Royalty has a large, reddish-purple berry with soft, but sweet, flavor. It is a favorite for making jams and adding to pies.

Black raspberries, or Black Caps, produce fruit on arched or trailing canes. New canes are not produced from old roots; instead, they develop from the base of old canes. Black raspberries are preferred by chefs because the fruit tends to be sweeter. Munger is a small, blue-black berry with good flavor that ripens in July.

Raspberries need well-drained soil that is somewhat acidic and at least 6 to 8 hours of sun a day. Plant vines 2-3 feet apart in rows 4-6 feet apart, and construct a simple trellis system to keep the vines upright for easy harvesting. A summer mulch will help keep the area weed-free, retain moisture and keep the soil cooler.

Prune summer red raspberries after harvest by removing the canes that bore fruit. Fall-ripening varieties bear on new canes that grow in the summer. After fruiting, either cut these canes to the ground, or remove the portion that fruited and leave the lower canes to produce next spring.

Once everything is in place, your raspberry patch will provide you with many years of savory satisfaction.

• It’s bare root season, which means you can save money on fruit trees and roses by planting them now. A wide selection is now available.

• Start an asparagus bed so you can enjoy their young, tender shoots straight from the garden.

• Mulch established rhubarb plants with three inches of well-rotted manure.

• Witch hazels bloom in the middle of winter with their interesting and showy, fragrant yellow or red blooms. One might look good in your garden.

The Raspberry Patch

Growing a raspberry patch in your yard is easy, there is very little maintenance and you are rewarded with succulent berries year after year. By planting different varieties that bear at different times, you can have a steady supply of fresh raspberries all summer long.

There are four types of raspberries, red, purple, black and yellow, and many varieties to choose from. The red raspberry is first to ripen, followed by the black, purple, and yellow cultivars.

Red raspberries can also be divided into two types: summer-bearing or everbearing. Summer-bearing cultivars produce one crop in the early summer, while everbearing cultivars can produce up to two crops a year. The first crop is produced in late summer or fall and the second crop the next spring.

‘Willamette’ is the earliest to bear with dark red fruit and mild flavor. It is followed by ‘Meeker’, with medium red fruit and excellent traditional raspberry flavor, and ‘Newburgh’, which has light red berries with good flavor. ‘Tulameen’ has a large fruit with an excellent, non-traditional raspberry flavor, and a long harvest season.

Everbearing raspberries include ‘Amity’, which has medium red fruit of good flavor with almost no spines, ‘Heritage’, which also has good fruit but usually bears too late for our climate, and ‘Autumn Bliss’, which has large fruit that are highly flavorful and very productive.

Black raspberry plants tend to bear fruit midseason and are preferred by chefs because the fruit tends to be sweeter. ‘Munger’ is a small, blue-black berry with good flavor that ripens in July. ‘Royalty’ has a large, reddish-purple berry with soft, but sweet, flavor. It is a favorite for making jams and adding to pies.

Yellow raspberries are less common than the other two types but produce berries that are just as sweet and large. Most yellow raspberries are fall-ripening including ‘Fall Gold’. Its fruit is medium-sized, yellow with a pink blush, soft, but with an excellent, sweet flavor.

Raspberries need well-drained soil that is somewhat acidic and at least 6 to 8 hours of sun a day. Plant vines 2-3 feet apart in rows 4-6 feet apart, and construct a simple trellis system to keep the vines upright for easy harvesting. A summer mulch will help keep the area weed-free, retain moisture and keep the soil cooler.

Prune summer red raspberries after harvest by removing the canes that bore fruit. Fall-ripening varieties bear on new canes that grow in the summer. After fruiting, either cut these canes to the ground, or remove the portion that fruited and leave the lower canes to produce next spring.

Once everything is in place, your raspberry patch will provide you with many years of savory satisfaction.